Golf-club.



PATENTEDSEPT-JZ,1903.

W. J. TRAVIS.

" GOLF GLUB.

APPLICATION nun my s, 1903;

Patented September 22,1903.

PATENT O FIC WALTER JOHN TRAVIS, OF GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK.

.GOLF-CLU B.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 739,458, dated September 22, 1903. i

Application filed May 8,1903. Serial No. 156,167. (Nomodeh) To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WALTER JOHN TRAvIs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Garden City, Long Island, (post-office address 33 South William street, borough of Manhattan,

city, county, and State of New York,) have invented certain new and useful Improve,

ments in Golf-Clubs, of which the following is a specification, accompanied by drawings.

The invention relates particularly to the weighting of drivers, brassies, wooden putters, and other clubs wherein weight is added to a wooden or other club-head, which weight has It has been common in the most approved form of drivers and brassies to place the lead in an elongated groove or recess in the back of the head. In some instances two or three separate holes have been drilled and the lead cast therein.

Numerous improvements have been made with varying success in the form and distribution of the lead mass, and many theoretical considerations havebeen resorted to and applied in the attempt to improve the form of head. This present improvement is the result of a long series of observations made in actual practice of the game throughout the principal links of the United States, which hasresulted in the discovery of the present improvement, although'I am not able even today to explain the theoretical principles involved with any certainty. The present improvement, however, permits the more precise locating of the lead weight in constructing the club, because definite rules can be laid down and a definite method followed in forming the, recess that is to receive the weight; secondly, the improvement greatly increases the precision of the stroke, not only in the instance of the ball that is fully and fairly struck on the center of the face of the club, but also in the case of a ball struck near either end of the striking-face of the club, the tendency to'pull and slice being very noticeably diminished by the improvement.

. In the drawings several modifications of the invention are shown.

Figure 1 is a plan view of the driver-head,

showing the formation and position of the lead weight in section. Fig. 1 shows the shape of the exposed surface of the lead at the rear of the club. Fig. 2 shows a modification. Fig. 3 shows a rear view of the same, and Figs. 4, 5, and 6 showfurther modifications.

In Fig. 1, which shows the most preferred form of the invention, the weighting body 'of lead .or'other suitable material is placed directly in the line of stroke behind the center of the face of the club; secondly, it is equally distributed laterally on both sides ofsuch line; thirdly, the mass diverges inward within the head of the club, giving a spreading of the mass laterally as it nears the mid- 7c 'dle of the head; fourthly, the weight extends laterally within the head to points approximately directly behind the limits 10 and s of the club-face; fifthly, the shape of the weight is such that no anchors are required Fig. 1 shows the exposed surface of the e I lead at the rear of the club and also serves to show the thickness, which in the ordinary weight of the club-head may be from threeeighths to half an inch vertically. In Figs. 2 and 3 the weight is of a somewhat different shape; but the recesses within which it iscontained may be readily formed by drills in a simple and very accurate fashion. The limits, shape, amount of divergence, and precise position of the two diverging arms of the lead mass are easily and accurately de terminable in advance. Fig. 3 also serves to show the thickness of the lead vertically as well as horizontally.

In Fig. 4 ayet simpler outline of the lead mass is shown. The shape is seen in plan view, being bounded by substantially straight lines and the lead mass diverging inward within the head of the club to points directly behind the limits .9 and p of the club-face.

Fig. 5 shows a modification, which differs from Fig. 4 in having the side walls of the recess curved in the manner shown.

Fig, 6 shows a convenient and advantageous form of the weight, which may be made by first drilling into the head two crossed holes in the position shown in dotted lines and then gouging or chiseling out the spaces between the crossed holes, so as to form in a very direct and accurate fashion a recess of the shape shown.

I disclaim any such invention in sectional golf-club heads as is shown in Briggss patent, No. 552,043, wherein the weight is introduced between separate sections of a built-up clubhead without fulfilling the objects and purposes of my invention as herein set forth and claimed.

IVhile my observations would seem to indicate that some of these forms of the invention are less advantageous than others and while manifestly some of the forms are more easily made than the others, nevertheless they all have common characteristics, as are pointed out in the broader of the following claims, and they all of them in actual practice tend to direct the flight of the ball with more precision and with less danger of twisting, slicing, or pulling the ball than any other form of club-head with which I am familiar.

hat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is the following:

1. The improved weighted golf-club head having the weight set in from the rear of the club-head and placed centrally in line with the face of the club and equally distributed laterally from the central line in a mass or masses diverging inwardly and spreading laterally as the center of the club-head is approached, said diverging portions extending to and terminating at points substantially directly behind the lateral limits of the face of the club and said weight having an exposed surface at the rear of the club of less extent than the interior lateral dimension of the weight, for substantially the purposes set forth.

2. The improved weighted golf-club head having the weight set in from the rear of the club-head and placed centrally in line with the face of the club and equally distributed laterally from the central line in a mass or masses diverging inwardly and spreading laterally as the center of the golf-head is approached, said diverging portions extending to and terminating at points substantially directly behind the lateral limits of the face of the club, for substantially the purposes set forth.

3. The improved weighted golf-club head, having the weight set in from the rear of the clubhead and placed centrally in line with the face of the club and equally distributed laterally from the central line in a mass or masses diverging inwardly and spreading laterally as the center of the club-headis approached, for substantially the purposes set forth.

4. The improved weighted golf-club head, having the weight set in from the rear of the club-head and in the form of a mass extending inward from the rear of the club toward the center and diverging laterally as it approaches the center, for substantially the purposes set forth.

5. The improved weighted golf-club head, having the weighting mass set in from the rear of the club-head and of a form that is divergent inward and forward, thereby at once obviating the need of anchors and bringing the center of gravity farther forward inthe interior of the head, for substantially the purposes set forth.

6. In a golf-club of the class wherein the weight is inserted, as is common, from, the rear, the improvement which consists in so locating the weight-recess that it extends from the rear of the club forward and diverges laterally and is symmetrically located behind the striking-face of the club.

7. In a golf-club of the class wherein the weight is inserted, as is common, from the rear, the improvement which consists in so locating the weightrecess that it extends from the rear of the club forward and diverges laterally and is symmetrically located behind the striking-face of the club, said weight being secured solely by its shape fitting the said recess and thereby holding it in place.

8. The improved weighted golf-club head of the class wherein the weight is set in from the rear of the club-head, said head having the weight centrally placed in line with the face of the club and equally distributed laterally from the central line in a mass or masses diverging as the mass extends inward and forward, said weight being contained entirely within a recess in a single intregal part of the head, for substantially the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

IVALTER JOHN TRAVIS.

Vitnesses:

Josnrn ISIDOR FRANK, J. I). PETERSON. 

